Transfiguration Tutor
by Lulu Babes
Summary: Lily is failing Transfiguration. James is Acing it. Lily needs a tutor. But will any work actually be done? J/L Rated T for safety.
1. NEWTs

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Is everybody happy now?!**

Chapter One

"JAMES POTTER!" screamed an extremely exasperated Lily Evans.

She had just stepped out of the shower that she and that good for nothing James Potter shared as Head Girl and Boy. Upon entering her room she had opened her drawer to get dressed in her uniform, only to find that all her underwear and bras had disappeared! There was only one logical explanation as to what had happened.

"JAMES POTTER!" she yelled again as she stormed out of her bedroom and into his. "What have you done with all my knickers?"

"I love the new look. Were you planning on wearing that to class?" he smirked.

"Where is all my underwear, Potter?" Lily asked again trying to restrain herself from throwing something at him.

"I don't know, dearest Lily," James replied coolly.

"I know you took them! GIVE THEM BACK!"

"Lily, you really should learn to control your temper." James said still smiling, but she noticed that he took a few steps backwards.

This made her smile too. She walked towards him looking him straight in the eye until they're noses were practically touching. Lily watched as James' smile faltered, unsure of what was happening. She smiled even wider, and moved in as if to kiss him. She heard his breath catch in his throat. She slid her arm around his waist and felt his wand in his back pocket. She moved her face even closer to his so that their lips were almost touching. James closed his eyes, and so did she. Then Lily pulled away triumphantly with James' wand in her hand.

"STUPIFY!" she yelled, hitting him right between the eyes.

James fell backwards onto his bed. Lily stood over him. Now it was her turn to smirk. She turned around and went back to her room.

***

When Lily got down to breakfast all her friends were already there.

"What took you so long, Lil?" asked Gwen.

"Oh, nothing," replied Lily airily. "Just settling some stuff with Potter."

She sat down carefully making sure her school skirt was secure around her. Although she had undoubtedly won her little argument with Potter, she had not succeeded in finding her underwear.

"Hey Lil, want some eggs?" asked Shayla. She served some onto Lily's plate without waiting for an answer.

"So, why are you wearing a sweater?" asked Gwen. "It's really nice outside, look at the ceiling. I heard it was warm too."

"Oh, I just...I'll tell you later," Lily scowled. She had also failed to find her bras, and she wasn't really enjoying the all natural approach to things this morning.

Just then James Potter walked into the Great Hall. Almost the entire female population at Hogwarts' focus turned to the extremely attractive boy standing in the entrance. Lily rolled her eyes. James sat down next to his best friend, Sirius Black, an equally popular and attractive young man at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately, Sirius happened to be sitting across from Lily, which meant that now her least favourite person in the world was doing the same. James grinned at Lily.

"Enjoying the breeze this morning?" he asked innocently.

"Oh, shut up," growled Lily. She was not in the mood for this.

"I was just thinking, you know, it makes us all feel a little more _free,_" he smirked.

_Bad choice,_ thought Lily. She smiled back at him and winked. Using her wand under the table she performed a nonverbal spell, sending a jug of pumpkin juice soaring down the table where it stopped right in front of James' face and dumped its contents on top of his head.

Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew burst into laughter. Sirius clutched his stomach and cackled loudly while he pointed his finger at James.

Lily took in the sight of James Potter. He was sopping wet, pumpkin juice was dripping off his robes onto the floor, his normally messy hair that stood up in all different directions was plastered to his head, and his glasses were smeared and dirty. He sat completely still in shock, a steady stream of juice dripped off his nose. His face wore an expression of utter confusion.

"W-wha..." He stuttered.

"Better luck next time, mate," Remus smiled, trying not to laugh anymore.

"You..." James pointed his finger at Lily. She smiled sweetly back at him. "Juice..." he pointed at himself. "WHAT?"

Lily went back to her breakfast, which she finished while Shayla ate her second. Then the three girls got up and left a slightly dazed James sitting next to a still hysterical Sirius.

****

"Alright class, today I will give you back your test papers," Professor McGonagall said. "Now remember, these tests will not be part of your final grade but instead think of them as a practice test before your next exam, which will be the N.E.W.T.s. at the end of the year, obviously."

She moved towards the drawer in her desk, which held the class's tests. While McGonagall did this, Lily looked nervous and bit her lip. Although she was a very good student usually, in Transfiguration she was a disaster! She got perfect marks in almost everything, especially potions. Professor Slughorn adored her and she never got anything below Outstanding.

She leaned over and whispered to her best friend Alex,

"What if I fail? What if I don't pass seventh? You'll graduate without me, and I'll be here forever…" Lily was quite paranoid sometimes.

Alex, fortunately, was used to this, and calmly interrupted Lily with,

"Don't worry, you'll do fine, and you heard McGonagall, it doesn't count. If you fail, you'll probably just get a tutor or something. And you know what, who cares anyways, it's only school. What does it matter?"

"That's easy for you to say, I'm sure you did well on the test..." Lily trailed off dismally.

"I don't know about that," replied Alex. "And anyways, no one can do better than James Potter," She said looking across the room to where he sat with Sirius Black. "He's so good at Transfiguration. Aren't the two of them just sooooo hot?"

Lily followed Alex's gaze. "Nope, not even remotely," said Lily sharply.

"Oh, come on! How can you say that? Look at those muscles... It is impossible for any girl not to think those two are attractive."

"No, it is not, because I don't," said Lily curtly.

"I think you are in denial, Lily. Or maybe you're just crazy," Alex said not taking her eyes off the pair.

"You see! This is why I'm failing Transfiguration! I spend the whole time listening to you go on about James Potter and Sirius Black," said Lily feeling exasperated at her friend.

"Well that's not true!" said Alex indignantly. "Mostly I just talk about Sirius. I prefer them less brainy."

"Alex, that's not my point!" Lily tried again.

"I would do him any day," Alex continued, not listening to Lily in the least.

"Oh, never mind," Lily said. She knew a lost cause when she saw one.

Professor McGonagall looked over and said: "Evans, Morgan, pay attention."

"Sorry, Professor," they chorused.

"But, James Potter," said Alex as soon as Professor McGonagall looked away again.

"Here we go," sighed Lily.

"That boy has got it for you bad," smiled Alex.

"Oh, be quiet," said Lily feeling annoyed. How many times had they been over this? "You know that's not true."

"Yes it is," said Alex knowingly. "And you know what the saddest part is?"

Lily chose to ignore her.

"Say what!" Alex told her.

"No!"

"Say it!"

"No!"

"Say it or I'll tell James you like him!"

"Fine! Sometimes you act like you're five! What?"

"You don't even realize."

"Ugh Alex, I am not in the mood for this."

"You always say that."

"Exactly."

On the other side of the room, James Potter was feeling very confident. He was an okay student usually, but he excelled in Transfiguration.

James confidently ran his hand through his untidy hair as his amber eyes sparkled. Sirius just rolled his dark eyes and sighed; he was bored.

James leaned over and whispered to Sirius, "Alex was just staring at you."

"Tell me something new. When is a girl _not _staring at me?" Sirius grinned.

It was James' turn to roll his eyes. "I wish Evans would stare at me," he sighed.

"Oh James, you good for nothing softie," said Sirius affectionately.

James just stared longingly across the classroom at Lily.

"Don't worry, she'll come around someday," Sirius tried to encourage his best friend.

"Someday..." James repeated rather gloomily, his good mood entirely crushed.

As McGonagall started walking down the middle of the desks, she continued her speech.

"_Most_ of you did quite well, and I'm very pleased with you. _Most_ of you," she added as she walked by Lily. She placed Lily's test in front of her, and continued walking. Lily looked down at her paper, nervously, and when she saw it, she let out a groan. In McGonagall's thick green quill, she saw a 'P' for poor.

"Miss Evans, I will need to see you after class."

"Yes, Professor."

When McGonagall reached James' desk, she smiled at him, which was not something she did often, and placed his test on his desk. James didn't even bother to look at it. So Sirius took the liberty of checking for him.

"Congratulations, mate! You got Outstanding!" Sirius said brightly.

But not even that could lift James' spirits. He continued to stare sadly across the room at Lily for the rest of the class.

At the end of class, everyone stood up and left.

"I'll wait for you, okay?" Alex told Lily.

"No, it's alright, you go on." Lily said trying to smile and not appear nervous while her stomach flipped over backwards.

Lily walked up to the front of the class where McGonagall's desk stood.

"You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Evans. I'm afraid that you will have great difficulty in passing your Transfiguration N.E.W.T.s without significant improvement. Your grades are less than satisfactory."

"I know. What should I do, Professor?" asked Lily, fearing the worst.

McGonagall looked thoughtful for a minute, and then said: "I suppose you must have a tutor. Go on now, but tonight, at 8 o'clock, please report to Dumbledore's office. The password is Jelly Slugs. We shall decide who your tutor will be then."

McGonagall dismissed her and she left.

As soon as Lily crossed the threshold of the classroom, Alex ran up to her.

"What happened??!" She asked.

"I'm failing Transfiguration," Lily moaned. "McGonagall thinks I might not pass the N.E.W.T.s!"

"Oh...well it's okay, Lily! You're brilliant in all the other subjects. Come on, how about a game of exploding snap to take your mind off of it?"

"Okay," agreed Lily.

The two girls walked back to the common room together.

"Hey Lily," Alex asked as they reached the head common room. "Are you wearing a bra?"

"No," replied Lily, feeling embarrassed. "I'm not wearing knickers either."

"Why not?" giggled Alex.

"James Potter."

"You mean you two...really?!"

"NO!!!!"

"Oh, what happened then?"

"I'll explain, come on."

Just then Sirius came around the corner.

"Am I correct, Evans, in hearing from what you two just said that you are not wearing any knickers?" he asked grinning.

"Go away, Black," said Lily.

"That's hot!" said Sirius, and ran off down the hall.

"He's such a pervert," said Lily.

"At least he's an attractive pervert," replied Alex.

***

At quarter to 8, Lily left the common room and went to Dumbledore.

"Jelly Slugs."

Lily had been to visit Dumbledore before, but was constantly amazed at what happened when she said the password; the stairs started moving, Lily hopped on, and was soon outside of the Headmaster's office. She could hear Dumbledore and McGonagall discussing what to do, so Lily politely knocked on the door.

"Come in!" called Dumbledore. Lily shyly walked in. "Hello, Miss Evans!"

"Hi, Professor. How are you?" Lily inquired.

"I seem to have a creak in my knee. Nothing to be concerned about, however! The real question is, how are _you_?" Dumbledore said kindly.

"Umm, fine I guess."

"Now, Miss Evans," he continued. "I understand that while you are doing extremely well in all of your other subjects, in Transfiguration, you, er, need some help."

Lily nodded her agreement.

"So, Professor McGonagall and I have decided to give you a tutor, someone who is doing very well in this subject. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, sir, of course."

"Good. You understand that we only do this because we believe you can succeed in your N.E.W.T.s and of course in your profession of choice."

"Thank you, professor. Do you know who my tutor will be yet?" Lily asked, praying for someone tolerable.

"Yes, yes I do, Miss Evans. I was thinking…James Potter."


	2. UnComforting Words

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the characters belong to J

**Disclaimer: Yes, yes, yes we don't own Harry Potter characters. **

**Chapter 2**

Lily fought on being outwardly calm. But on the inside, she was ready to explode. _James Potter?! JAMES POTTER?! _How could she possibly be paired with James Potter? She hated Potter more than any one else in the world. Except for maybe the revolting guy her sister was dating.

"James Potter, Professor? Are you certain that that's a good idea?"

"Are you questioning the Headmaster's decision, Miss Evans?" Queried McGonagall. "No, Professor."

"Good. You and Potter will begin studying tomorrow. Since you two are conveniently Head boy/girl, you will meet in your common room at 6 pm tomorrow, and study until 8. You will continue this every other night until I see that your grades have satisfactorily improved."

"Yes…. Professor." Replied Lily dejectedly.

"Fine, then." Said McGonagall briskly.

"Off to bed with you then." Said Dumbledore cheerily, "Help yourself to a Lemon Drop on the way out. They're in that bowl there." He pointed.

Lily dragged her feet out the door without even glancing at the Lemon Drops.

Instead of going to the Head common room Lily turned down a different hall and went to visit Alex in the Gryffindor common room.

"You look like a bull in a china shop, except you look like the china shop." Exclaimed Alex twisting one of her favorite muggle expressions.

"They put me with Potter." Said Lily darkly.

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Alex. "Who are 'they' and what did 'they' do to you?"

"Dumbledore and McGonagall have decided to make Potter tutor me, every other night. Out of all the good students in the grade, they put me with POTTER!!" Until now, Lily had been controlling herself, but now she burst into tears.

"Lily, Lily, its ok! I mean, I know you hate him and all, but most girls in the grade and in sixth as well would _kill _to be tutored by one of the hottest guys in school." As Alex was comforting Lily, she had been directing her to the bathroom so that Lily could splash some cold water on her face.

Lily looked into the mirror. She first saw her usually brilliant green eyes, which were now infused with tears. Her fair skin was freckle-less was splotchy and her long gorgeous dark red hair was slightly tangled.

As Alex helped Lily, she looked into the mirror as well. Her hair was auburn, so in different lights it could be a rich brown or a deep red. She had blue-y grey eyes, and her face was dusted with freckles. All in all, both girls were extremely pretty.

"Well he is pretty cute…." Said Alex with a faraway look in her eyes

"Alex, you're not helping." Sighed Lily

"And dreamy…."

"Alex!!" Lily snapped her fingers in front of Alex's face.

"Right," said Alex, "but I'm sure you'll work it out."

"I'm sure I won't." Grouched Lily

They returned to their separate common rooms. But this was no help for Lily seeing as she shared the Head common room with the head boy: Potter. POTTER!! When Lily had first found out that Potter was head boy she had practically burst a seam. Alex had helped her as best she could but Lily had resolved to simply ignore poor Potter who was infatuated with her. This was hard at first as he was constantly bothering her and trying to make her speak. It was worse because there was no-one to distract him from Lily.

Lily walked over to her favourite armchair, the big red squishy one. She picked up the book she was reading, Jane Eyre, and curled up. She had read for about an hour, when James burst into the room, laughing.

"'Bye Sirius! Good night!" He was still laughing when he looked up and saw the look on Lily's face.

"Jeez, Lils, what'd I do? Commit a felony?"

"In my book, yes!" Lily said through gritted teeth.

"Well, sorr-y!"

"Whatever." Lily stalked out of the room, grabbing her book as she left.

"What'd I DO??" James said frustrated.

After pondering awhile, he sat down to read _Quidditch Through the Ages _for the tenth time. He really _couldn't _understand Lily! But even so, he thought that she was the prettiest girl around and he liked her. A lot. More than anything.


	3. Excitement

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the characters belong to J

**Disclaimer: We're not claiming the characters, we're just playing with them LOL**

**Chapter 3**

"I can't believe we have transfiguration again today. I mean we have it twice in a row!" Complained Lily. She, Alex, and their other friends Gwen, Maddy, and Shayla walked into the room. Lily had told her friends what had happened and they were all sympathetic. She dragged her feet into Transfiguration, and then went to 'their' table.

"I mean, why is it that the subject I hate the most is the one we have the most? Why can't we have double Potions!?"

"Lily, we DO have double potions, right after lunch." Said Gwen in her calm voice.

"Oh. Well. Fine." It seemed like Lily was finding the worst in everything, but her friends were trying to fix that by changing the bad into good things.

The doors opened with a bang, and in walked Professor McGonagall. The whole class was quiet, stopping in the middle of whatever conversations they were having.

"Alright, class. Today we will be focusing on Animagus. Oh, and Potter I need you to stay after class. Now, who knows something about Animagus?" With that, McGonagall changed herself into her cat form.

"Oh no!" Thought Lily. She knew what was coming. McGonagall was going to tell Potter that he was to be her tutor in transfiguration. Why Potter though? Out of all the students in Hogwarts why did Potter have to tutor her? It was already bad enough that she had to live with him.

Blah, blah, blah rambled on Professor McGonagall, but Lily wasn't paying attention. All class she worried. When the bell finally rang she watched Potter make his way up to McGonagall's desk.

James on the other hand was wondering why he was in trouble. Had McGonagall somehow found out that it was him and Sirius who had set off the dung bombs in the fourth corridor? He hoped not.

"Potter, it has come to my attention that you are doing extremely well in transfiguration." Said McGonagall. Guess she didn't know. "And it has also come to my attention that Lily Evans is doing quite poorly. She definitely needs some help, a tutor or something. So I think that since you two live together it will be easiest if you do it in your common room."

"Umm…do _what _exactly, Professor?"

"Tutor her. Every other night, from 6 till 8, you will tutor her in Transfiguration until I see that her grades have improved. You start tonight. Now go on to Charms." "Yes Professor."

James fought to be outwardly calm. But on the inside, he was ready to explode. Lily Evans! LILY EVANS!! He walked slowly out of the classroom, but when he got out of McGonagall's earshot he jumped up in the air, shouting: "YES!!"

Sirius, who had been waiting for James, heard him and ran up to him.

"What? What is sooo exciting?! 'Cause if its exciting, then I want to know so that I can be excited too, ok? So tell me!"

"McGonagall wants me to be a tutor. And…"

Sirius interrupted James. "You think its EXCITING to be a tutor?!" He said with an incredulous look on his face.

"No, no, no, Padfoot. I get to tutor Lily!"

"Lily? Lily Evans?"

"How many other Lilies are there?"

"Well, there's Lily Bell, in fifth, Lily Burgandy, in second…"

"Ok, ok. Yes, Lily Evans. Isn't that GREAT!!" James did a couple more jumps.

"Yeah, that's amazing, Prongs!"

James looked at his watch, and said: "Oh no! Flitwick's gonna KILL us!" And the two best friends ran down the many staircases to Charms.


	4. The First Session

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the characters belong to J

**Disclaimer: Blah blah blah HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS blah blah blah WE blah bah blah DON'T OWN!! (blah blah)**

**Chapter 4**

"Lily! Its six o'clock! Time for our tutoring session! I think you should come down from your room now!" called James. He had already set everything up for the tutoring. He had laid out all the books and planed exactly what he was going to help Lily with. He couldn't wait to get started.

Lily dragged her feet out of her room and down the stairs. She plunked herself in the seat at the table furthest from James. He pretended not to notice.

"Lets just get this over with as quickly as possible." Said Lily coolly.

"Lighten up Lily flower!" said James playfully.

"For the last time, DON"T CALL ME LILY FLOWER!!"

"Okay, okay, sorry. So the first to do would be to find what you're having the most trouble in." Said James trying to sound professional.

"Listen up James! I am not stupid! I'm a very good student in every single subject and I'm just having a little trouble in transfiguration at the moment. But at least I do well in other things. Unlike you who can't seem to get a decent mark in any subject." Stormed Lily "Except transfiguration." She admittedly added.

"Jeeze Lily, don't de so touchy." Retorted James trying to laugh it off. But inside he was hurt. Lily had always been rude to him, but this was downright mean. Not to mention unnecessary.

"And out of all the people who could have tutored me, McGonagall had to pick _you!_" With that Lily grabbed a Transfiguration book at random, and stormed upstairs.

James, meanwhile, was very hurt. After all, he _really_ liked her, and it seemed that no matter what he did, he always offended her. But, he still really liked her, nothing could change that. So, he stood up and went up the stairs to Lily's room. The door had been slammed shut.

"Lily?" "What do you want, Potter?"

"I…I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Why would you care, Potter? I'm horrible to you, and you ask how _I _am. Just go away."

"McGonagall wants us to keep studying until 8 o'clock. If you want, we can just go until 7, and then go to bed. Whatever you want."

"That's not necessary, Potter. We will study until 8. Then we will go to our rooms, and you will not talk to me for the rest of the night."

"Alright…if that's what you want. Come on."

Lily slowly opened her door. James could see that she was a little teary eyed because of her puffy eyes.

"So why don't we just go over what we learned in class today." Said James slowly not wanting to upset her even more.

"Fine then." Replied Lily still a little frosty

"So the first thing you need to know about an animagus it takes a really long time to become an amimagus." James explained.

"For your information I already know that, Potter!" Sniffed Lily "But the longest it could take is a year."

"Well…" James trailed off uncertainly. She was wrong.

"What Potter?!"

"It can actually take two to three years." James corrected cautiously.

"You think you know everything don't you Potter. You think you're just so good at transfiguration. Well I have information for you. You're nothing but a hot head!! Good night!" Screamed Lily, and she stormed off to her bedroom.

"If I wasn't in love with her I would scream right back." He thought.


	5. Patrolling

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the characters belong to J

**Disclaimer: Yeah, so unfortunately, all of these cool people with whom we are playing belong to J.K. Rowling. Soo on with the story!**

**Chapter 5 **

"It was HORRIBLE! He actually knows nothing about Transfiguration." Lily lied to Alex.

"I'm sure, Lily, that the boy who is at the top of our Transfiguration class knows absolutely _nothing _about it!" Alex, Shayla, Gwen and Maddy laughed.

"Its not funny, guys! I hate him! Plus, I have to patrol with him tonight, and then stupid tutoring tomorrow!"

"Well, just study hard and then you can stop these 'stupid tutoring' sessions. Now, _please _stop complaining. Its Shayla's birthday in a couple of days and we need to plan the awesomest party around!"

"Is that even a word?" Lily teased Alex.

"It is now. So, Shayla, I was thinking a theme of purple, so we can, like, turn everything purple. Ooh, lets ask McGonagall if she can make the Gryffindor common room expand, so that we can invite everyone. Except Slytherin, of course. And then we can.."

* * *

"So, James, how was the tutoring with Lils?" Sirius asked his best friend.

"She called me a hot head, yelled at me, then ran upstairs."

"Are you serious?"

"No, you are!"

"Ha ha, never heard that one before" laughed Sirius

"But everything I do either upsets her or makes her hate me. It's impossible for me to make her happy." James said dejectedly "And to make it worse I have patrol with her tonight. She probably won't talk to me and if she does it will probably be an insult."

"I'm sorry man," Sirius said comfortingly "but I'm sure she'll come around at some point." Although he knew that this was almost impossible.

James ran. He was late and Lily was going to freak. When he got there she was already patrolling.

* * *

"You're late." She said coldly.

"Sorry." He replied breathlessly

"Start patrolling over there." Ordered Lily

"Listen Lily, we really need to talk about what happened last ni-

"Start over there!!" She rudely interrupted.

"Lily I'm really sorry if I offended you last night," James spoke quickly before Lily could interrupt again, "but I was only trying to help you. It doesn't have to be like this. We don't have to dread our tutoring sessions, they could really be alright if we work together and try to be civilized. I know it's humiliating for you to be tutored by me, but trust me it won't be so bad."

He waited for a response. Lily looked like a statue. Then all of sudden Lily burst into tears. James had expected shouting and insults, but Lily crying was the last thing he had thought would happen. Lily hid her ace with her hands and started to walk away. But James followed her.

"It's okay…."

"No it's not…everybody thinks I'm stupid…'cause I need help…with Transfiguration…"

James walked over to Lily and put his arms around her. Since she made no comment or move to pull away, he preceded to stroke her hair, saying,

"Shh…its ok. No one thinks that you, Lily Evans, the smartest witch in our year, is stupid."

"Yes they do! And its not even fair! Because I work hard! Soo hard!"

"I know you do, its ok!"

"Okay. Well. Thanks Jam-Potter." She looked up at him (he was two inches taller) and looked into his eyes. _He really wasn't so bad. _She thought. _Wait! Did I just think that??_

"Well…we should probably start patrolling again…" Lily trailed off.

"Oh…right. Of course." James didn't let go of Lily.

"Potter! Let go of me!"

"Oh…right. Of course." Repeated James

"You just said that." She told him, and briskly walked down the hall without another word.

**Hi! Soo if you guys can review our story that would be great! 'cuz it gives us motivation 'n stuff! Thx!**


	6. A doe and a stag

**Disclaimer: okay so you probably already know this but…we don't own the characters. JK Rowling does. Get it. Got it. Good.**

**Chapter 6**

Lily rushed down the marble staircase even though she was early for breakfast. She was always on time and if she wasn't on time she was early. She looked around but none of her friends at breakfast yet. She sat down and munched on some toast until her friends came.

Alex was the first one to come and was quickly followed by Gwen. They sat down on either side of Lily with a quick:

"Hi!" at the same time.

"I'm sooooo excited for Shayla's birthday party! Aren't you?! It's tomorrow." Bubbled Alex. (A/N It originally was in a week, but we changed it)

"Yes I'm excited, Alex. I'm just not bouncing out of my seat." Replied Gwen.

They continued to talk animatedly about the upcoming party until Maddy and Shayla came down.

"Hey guys," gushed Maddy, "Guess what!"

"What?" Asked Lily only half paying attention.

"I heard that Potter can produce a full patronus!"

"Of course he can't!" said Lily shocked.

"But he can, it's true!" retorted Maddy.

Lily just sat there stunned until her friends dragged her off to class.

In Potions that day, all Lily could think about was James and his patronus. And since it was Potions, her favourite subject, that's saying a lot.

Was it really true that he could produce a patronus? Of course not…well maybe…Ugg! How was it that James the slacker could do this and she, Lily, the perfect student couldn't? She was so much better than James. It killed her that he could do something she was incapable of. Even if it was just one thing.

"Miss Evans?"

Was someone saying her name? Whatever. Grrrr. . . James!

"Miss Evans!" Professor Slughorn said again, more sharply this time.

"Oh, sorry professor, I was ditracted." Lily answered lamely

In the back Lily heard Sirius whisper to James "Can't get you off her mind can she Prongsie? Not even in her favourite class." Then she heard muffled giggles.

Sirius had such an ego. Not only for himself, but apparently for his friends too.

"Miss Evans, what would I get if I added Unicorn Hair to a tomato soup?"

"A tonic for disease, Professor."

"Very good, Miss Evans. Twenty points for Gryffindor." Slughorn loved to dote on his favourite student, even when she wans't paying attention.

He knew she was the best in her year, and possibly in the whole school. But that could be going a tad far. But this fact was frustrating for the Slytherins because Lily was in Griffindor and Slughorn was the head of Slytherin. Meanwhile, the Gryffindors beamed and looked smug. James threw a smile at Lily, which she tried very hard to ignore.

After class, Lily and her friends went to get ready for a trip to Hogsmeade that McGonagall had given them special permission for, in order to get things ready for Shayla's party. They were supposed to go to the candy shop and get a good supply of candy for all of the seventh years, (Except for Slytherin) but on the way Alex saw a dress shop and absolutely HAD to go in there.

They all tried on dresses for fun until they had each decided on one each. Shayla chose a lovely purple one with frills at the bottom. Gwen chose a long royal blue that looked gorgeous with her short black hair. Alex chose a pretty aqua colored halter dress. But Lily's by far was the most beautiful of all, everyone agreed. It was a perfect match in color to her lovely green eyes. It was strapless with a big ribbon around her waist that was the same green. It flew around her ankles and just looked absolutely astonishing on her.

"Oh my gosh Lily! That dress is perfect for you!" Even Alex, who was usually the most talkative, was speechless. So, Lily bought the dress, and the girls continued with their shopping. Lily was happy and content on her way back to Hogwarts, when she realized that, she couldn't just go to her room and read, she had to study with Potter!

"Lily, it's time for tutoring session number two." Called James, less eagerly this time.

He didn't want a repeat of last time. He waited a couple of minutes but Lily still didn't come. He knew she was up there. Why wasn't she coming? He decided to go and get her.

"Lily?" he said carefully as he knocked on her door.

"What?" she called back reproachfully.

"It's time for our tutoring." James replied. Why was she taking so long? He cautiously opened her door.

"POTTER!!" She screamed. But he didn't care. She was wearing a stunning green dress that matched her eyes perfectly. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He just gazed at her in a dreamy way.

"Potter?" said Lily uncertainly. James snapped out of his stupor immediately.

"Right, um, we have to, er, start our tutoring." James stammered.

"I'll be down in a minute, Potter." she sighed

When Lily came down the stairs, James noticed that she did not seat herself as far away from him as possible. His heart swelled inside. It was just a tiny thing but somehow it made him feel a lot better. He opened his mouth to say something but Lily was one step ahead of him.

"Potter, is it true you can produce a patronus?" She asked.

"Well…yes…but…how did you know that?"

"Everyone's talking about it. If you _can_ do it, Potter, then show me."

"Well, Lily, that's not really Transfiguration…"

"Please?" Lily batted her eyelashes and tried to look cute. Cruel as she knew this was, since it was clear Potter couldn't resist her.

"Well…I guess it's ok if I just quickly show you." James answered looking slightly more eager.

James took out his wand and said the spell. From his wand, a beautiful stag jumped out. (A/N We know that this is Harry's but now it's going to be James' as well, ok? LOL)

"Cool! Can you teach me how to do one? Please?"

"Well, Lily, we should, er, study."

"But Potter," She took a breath and smiled seductively "I mean James, I'm really interested. I think it's so cool that you can do one."

"Um . . ." James looked a little confused, but Lily could tell he liked where this was going.

"Come on James." She asked again. Then as an afterthought, "Don't you think it's getting rather hot in here Potter?" And she shrugged out of her sweater revealing that all she had underneath was a small tank top that rode up to show her stomach with spaghetti straps.

"Alright then." James finally agreed with a huge grin on his face.

As Lily did what James told her to do, she couldn't help smiling. She could practically get him to do anything she wanted. All it took was a little leverage.

But, when Lily said the words and did the actions, she saw only the faint outline of a doe. She gasped. James looked astonished as well.

"W-wow, Lily. Very good. So, a doe, huh?" He grinned and Lily glared.

Hadn't she read once somewhere that when two patrnouses matched, it meant that the owners were going to marry, or something cheesy like that? Clearly James had heard the same thing from the way he was acting. Great, as if that could be true. It was just some saying anyways. Wasn't it?

"Shall we try one more time and then get on with our lesson?" Said Lily in a firm voice.

"Um, Ok." James smiled

James and Lily did the patronus spell together. As they watched the animals come from their wands, they saw that the doe and the stag ran together. They caressed each other, before Lily's faded.

"Well. Potter, er, thank you for showing me this. I'm going to. . . bed now, goodnight." Lily ran upstairs, leaving a disappointed James to call after her:

"Lily? Lily, we need to continue with our lesson! Lily?" With a sigh, James gave up. Oh well, they had another lesson soon and he would see her at Shayla Sosi's party.

He grinned and went to his room and got ready for bed. That must mean that they were meant to be together. Right?

Lily was shocked. No, she was beyond shocked. She didn't even care that she had partially managed to produce a patronus. A doe and a stag. And the way they had entwined themselves in each other. What was that supposed to mean? Did that mean that she and James were meant to be together? She shivered. Like soul mates or something freaky like that? She was tired and all this was scaring her a little. She would think about in the morning when her head was a little more cleared. She went to bed and as exhausted as she was she still found it hard to fall asleep. She lay in bed for hours and mulled everything over. She still couldn't believe it. But somewhere deep inside her liked it. Her and James, together. She just didn't quite know it yet.

**Hey guys! Ok, so we are trying to write at least a chapter a day, so it****'s really encouraging when you review! Thanks to everyone who did!**


	7. Shayla's Party

**Disclaimer: We don't own JK Rowling's characters. JK Rowling does.**

**Chapter 7**

The next morning before breakfast Lily went to visit her friends in the Gryffindor common room. She told the whole story of the patronuses to Alex. She had been fighting against her own will to confide in someone. But when she was done she felt a lot better.

Just then Gwen came down the stairs from the girls dormitories.

"Oh my god guys!! The party is tonight!!" she practically screamed.

"I know!" Said Maddy walking down the stairs behind Gwen. "But only Gryffindors are invited 'cause McGonagall said we couldn't expand the common room. And otherwise there isn't enough room."

"That's too bad." Sighed Alex. She was a real partier.

"Lets get some breakfast." Shayla said startling them all by sneaking up behind. So they all went downstairs for some food.

* * *

The music was blaring. There were streamers floating in the air that were bewitched to twirl themselves into different shapes. Sparkling sliver confetti fell from the sky every five minutes or so. Some boys had helped Alex steal lots of food from the kitchens and there was an infinite supply of butter beer. Somehow someone had gotten hold of some fire whiskey and brought it to the party. People were saying that this was the best party thrown all year and everybody was having a wonderful. Alex even played some slow songs.

"Where's Lily?" Alex yelled over the music to Maddy.

"I don't know, I thought she was down here but I can't find her!"

"Lets go look upstairs!"

"Ok."

Alex and Maddy made their was through the crowd and up to the seventh year's dormitory, where all 5 of the girls had gotten ready for the party. They found Lily, in her dress, sitting on the bed looking bored.

"Lily! What are you doing? Your missing Shayla's awesome party!"

"I don't have anything to do down there. You two have boyfriends so you can dance, and Shayla's obviously the centre of attention since its her party."

"If you go downstairs, I bet someone will ask you to dance!" Maddy piped up.

"Yes, all you need is a little bit of mascara 'n stuff and then we'll go down, 'k?"

"'K."

Alex and Maddy used a spell to pile all of Lily's thick hair on top of her head, with a few curly strands falling down. Then they did her make-up. Lily was naturally pretty and didn't need make-up to look gorgeous, but with it she was simply stunning.

Alex and Maddy walked ahead, while Lily put on the small heels that matched her dress. Then Lily walked down to the party.

James had been talking to Sirius about which toilets were most likely to blow up when Lily walked down. He was speechless.

"L-Lily?" He stammered. Before any of the other guys who were staring at her could get a chance, he ran up to her.

"L-Lily? Would you like to dance?" Lily, shocked, was about to reply 'no' when she heard herself say:

"I'd love to dance, James-I-mean-Potter." James couldn't believe that she had just said yes and nothing rude or scornful. In fact she had said she would _love_ to dance.

"Potter, it's not a slow song…" Lily said softly. But Alex say what was going on and immediately switched the music to a slow song.

"It is now!" said James grinning. He looked over at Sirius who winked at him. Lily looked over at Alex who flashed her a huge smile.

They started to dance, as did other couples across the dance floor. This was all making Lily nervous, she had really never done this before. James's heart was swelling inside him ready to burst, he was so happy. He'd been after Lily Evans since fifth year and now he was finally to getting her. Finally.

James put his arms around her waist. Lily awkwardly slid her arms around his neck. They swayed back and forth together. For the first part of the song Lily looked everywhere around the room but James. He knew she was avoiding him. But after a bit Lily started to feel embarrassed. He probably knew she wasn't looking at him on purpose. _Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I just looked at him once._ She thought.

She looked up into his eyes. They were beautiful, a nice shade of amber. James looked back at her and she found that now she had looked she couldn't look away. Lily couldn't believe her self. James pulled her closer to him so they were practically hugging. But she didn't pull away. She felt herself liking this. His body, up against her body, so close. She could feel the warmth of his breath near her ear. She sighed. She could hear the song coming to an end. She wished it wouldn't. James held her tighter; he too sensed that this was ending soon.

"Lily…" he whispered in her ear. But then the song ended and she loosened her grip on him and he released her. Lily stepped away from him, and suddenly the world seemed clearer. As though she had been dancing with James in a little dream cloud where only they existed. She ran away from him and up to Alex's room.

What had she been thinking? It was Potter we were talking about here. Potter! She had danced with Potter. That wasn't supposed to be a good thing. But she had liked it. What was wrong with her? She didn't know. All she knew was that she had danced with Potter and somehow she had liked it.

* * *

James, too, had been in his own little world while dancing with Lily. But when the song ended and Lily inexplicably ran away, he came out of his bubble and heard himself say:

"Why did she leave?"

Sirius, as soon as the song ended, came up to James and said:

"Prongs, congrats, you danced with Lils! How was it?"

"What? Oh, right. Umm…it was amazing. We both went into this little bubble and…Well, I wish the song had never ended." James told Sirius in hushed tones.

"Nice. Now how 'bout we get ourselves some Firewhiskey!" With a shout, Sirius ran toward the drinks and gestured for James to come over. James, still in a half in his own little world, reluctantly came out and joined the growing group of Gryffindors crowding around Sirius.

* * *

**Hey Guys! Like this chapter? We'll try and get another one out today, but no promises. But if you review, it'll give us motivation 'n stuff, so we'll make more chapters…etc. Thx!**

**-Lulu Babes**


	8. First Kiss

**Disclaimer: We don't own them, now lets get on with the story.**

**Chapter 8**

Ever since she had danced with James, Lily had been in a sort of daze. She was uncertain of herself and completely confused. Why did she like James all of the sudden? Had she always liked him and just hadn't known?

All day she paid absolutely no attention in class. Even in potions. This made her friends a little concerned.

"Are you okay Lily?" Asked Gwen.

"No, not really." She replied with a sigh.

"Is it because you danced with James?" Questioned Alex in a knowing voice.

"No!!" Lily almost shouted in protest, "Its because I don't like Potter and I can't figure out how to tell him without hurting his feelings. I don't know what to do if asks me out. How will I say no without crushing him?" She lied.

"I see." Said Alex, although she wasn't so sure she believed Lily. But Lily almost never lied. She decided to keep her suspicions to herself. "Well don't be too mean a tutoring tonight, okay?"

"Oh! I forgot about that." She said. But she didn't sound sad, she sounded almost happy. Almost.

The day passed slowly for Lily, she was almost looking forward to her tutoring session. As 5:30 rolled around, she said bye to her friends and went to the Head's common room. As James wasn't there yet, she sat down with her book. Twenty minutes later, she had finished, and since James still wasn't there, she picked up _Quidditch Through the Ages_ which James had left lying around. She wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Ten minutes later, when James walked in, she was completely effulged in the book.

"Are you reading _Quidditch Through the Ages_?" James asked, astonished.

"Hmm?" Lily murmured, still engrossed in the book.

"Lily? Are you actually reading a Quidditch book?"

"What?! Oh, right!" A very flustered Lily put the book down quickly, but not before marking her place. "Umm…hi!"

"Hi…"

"Should we start now? What do you think? I mean, lets start now, ok?" Lily was still very flustered but James didn't mind and almost thought it was cute.

"Okay maybe we'll actually get some work done this time. You know McGonagall won't be pleased if your grades don't improve." Said James

"Right." Said Lily. James's remark really put her on track.

"So…what should we start with?" He asked.

"How about we talk about animagus again, it's still confusing me." Lily said briskly. _Well at least she's in a good mood. _Thought James.

They sat down at the table, but this time Lily sat in the chair right next to James. He liked that a lot, but he tried not to show it.

"Okay, well, an animagus is really like a part of your soul that can be expressed as an animal." James started the lesson. "So if you're a real scum bag person, your animagi might be a snake or something. See…" He opened a transfiguration textbook and began showing Lily some diagrams.

Lily tried to pay attention. But it was hard, it was all so boring. Blah, blah, blah, James bored on.

"Um, Lily, did you hear what I said?" James asked nudging Lily.

"Yes… of course." Lily tried to defend herself.

"Then, um, get out your wand so we can try this spell." He replied a little annoyed. Now he knew how teacher felt when he goofed off in class.

"What's the spell again?" Asked Lily a little embarrassed. Her cheeks went pink.

"Uggg, Lily." Groaned James and he proceeded to teach her how to turn a pillow into a hedgehog.

After that they sat down and began to read some information from the textbook again. Again Lily started to lose concentration. But this time she gazed at James. She drank in his features: his beautiful amber eyes (those she had already examined during the dance), his dark messy hair, his soft face, and muscular arms. He was gorgeous. She stared deep into his handsome eyes. It was then she realized how much he really liked him. And she had never even known it.

"Lily, I am talking you know." James said even more annoyed this time.

"I know…" she said softly.

"Okay" He said less harshly, and continued. But then he realized that she wasn't focusing because she was staring at him. His voice trailed off as he slowly stopped talking. They just sat there staring at each other and slipped into their own little world again.

"Lily…" James uttered softly, his voice almost a whisper.

"James…" Lily said. She had called him by his first name. James's heart swelled a little.

James slowly leaned closer to Lily. She didn't move away. In fact she leaned in little too. They were so close that Lily could feel James's breath on her cheeks. James knew he would get to do what he had been waiting to do for too long. Simultaneously they both moved in closing the distance between them and their lips touched. It lasted like what seemed for eternity and was by far the most beautiful kiss James thought he had ever had. Reluctantly they moved apart.

"James…" Lily breathed. She touched her lips. She could feel where James's lips had touched hers just moments before. She couldn't think straight. All she knew was that she wanted more. As if James could read her mind her caught her in an unexpected kiss. This time it was much more passionate. Their lips moved together perfectly. Lily could feel James's mouth trying to pry hers open. But she didn't mind. She lets her lips be moved by his. Their tongues danced together. They broke away breathlessly.

"No…" Moaned Lily "Don't stop."

"But Lily… transfiguration…" Said James.

"Honestly James," laughed Lily "when has work ever come first in your book?"

"You're right." James laughed along with her and surprising her again with another kiss.

"And I've learned lots this evening!" Lily joked, "Like what a good kisser James Potter is."

"Well I'd say that's the most interesting lesson in the book. Wouldn't you?" said James

"Oh yes!!" Lily giggled.

"Shall we continue our studies on the couch?" He asked.

"After you!" Lily said giggling again.

* * *

**Hi, Thanks to everyone who reviewed, we really really love reading your comments. Did ya like this chapter? **


	9. The Quidditch Match

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the characters belong to J

**Disclaimer: The characters that belong to J. K. Rowling, belong to J. K. Rowling.**

**Chapter 9**

Lily and James had decided to keep their new relationship a secret, at least for now. James didn't even tell Sirius, and Lily didn't tell Alex. Both were looking forward to their next 'tutoring' session, so when James went to Quidditch practice, he was in an extremely good mood.

"Hey, Prongs! Wassup?"

"Nothing really." James said, grinning like a maniac.

"It doesn't seem like nothing, but…I'll let it go." Sirius was suspicious, but he could see that his friend was in a good mood and he didn't want to upset him.

"So, James, what are we going to be doing today?" Sam Crosby, the seeker, (A/N In the movie James is the seeker, but in the book he's a chaser) walked into the pitch. James was the captain of the team, so he waited until everyone was there before saying:

"Ok, in two days we have a big match with Slytherin. We need to work hard tonight, and tomorrow…" With a heavy heart, James realized that he would have to miss his tutoring with Lily so that he could train his team properly. Even if he didn't want to, McGonagall was an avid Quidditch fan and would probably _make_ him go to practice.

The rest of the day was a blur to James. He was still trying to decide how he was going to tell Lily that they couldn't have the session. When he got back to the head dorm, Lily was already asleep. Damn, now he would have to tell her tomorrow in the great hall.

* * *

The next morning in the great hall instead of going straight to sit with Sirius at their usual spot, he stopped where Lily was sitting with Alex first.

"Um...hi Lily." He said a little nervous, hoping her reaction wouldn't give anything away.

"Oh, hi Potter." She said with a little smile in her voice.

"I just wanted to tell you that we can't have our tutoring session tonight because I have Quidditch practice. Sorry." James said looking apologetic.

"WHAT!! But, er, but why not? I was _really _looking forward to it tonight!! Uggg, this is sooooo not fair!!" Lily blurted without thinking. Alex raised her eyebrows. James gave her a look that said _shut up!!_ "I mean, that's fine James, er, Potter. Have fun at Quidditch!"

Alex waited until James was out of sight.

"What was that?!" She asked completely bewildered. "What were you looking forward to so much?"

"Well, I'm _really_ looking forward to learning more transfiguration." Lily lied with a smile.

"And you called him James." Alex probed.

"No I didn't!!" Lily protested. She hated lying to Alex.

"No one looks forward to work that much, not even you Lils." Alex said, letting it drop. But she was still suspicious.

* * *

The next day was the big match. Gryffindors and Slytherins were both making banners and flags to support their teams, and though Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw didn't want to get too involved, it was clear that they were both rooting for Gryffindor.

Lily walked over to the Gryffindor common room, where the girls were sitting.

"Hey guys!" Lily smiled.

"Hi, Lily!" her friends chorused.

"So, Alex, got any plans for us today?" Gwen asked.

"Well, how's about we go to the prefect's bathroom, courtesy of Lily, and do makeovers?"

"Yeah!" "Awesome!" "Sounds great!" Came the girls' replies.

But Lily had different ideas. "No! I mean, that sounds great and everything, but isn't today the big Quidditch match? Why don't we go there instead and do makeovers tomorrow. Since today's Saturday, we'll still have time tomorrow."

"And since when do _you _like Quidditch?" Inquired Maddy, just as Alex said:

"Lily, you _hate _Quidditch!"

"I do not _hate _Quidditch, in fact, I recently started reading _Quidditch Through the Ages._"

"Fine, fine. If you want to go to the match, we'll go, but tomorrow we're doing makeovers, promise?"

"Thank you! And I promise."

"You do? So there won't be any other games tomorrow that involve crazy witches and wizards flying around on broomsticks?" Alex teased.

"No, tomorrow we'll go to the prefect's bathroom and do extreme makeovers."

"Good. Tomorrow, then. Ok, I'm going to change for the game." Said Alex.

"Me too!" They all said, and ran off.

* * *

Lily watched James and no one else throughout the whole game. She never had a clue what the score was or who was doing what on the field. All she knew was that James looked extremely hot flying around on his broomstick and scoring points.

That was all she could think about as she walked back to the castle with her friends. They chattered on about this and that but she didn't hear a thing. Lily jus drifted wordlessly to the head dorm and waited there until James arrived.

"You are really good at Quidditch!" She exclaimed as he walked through the door.

"Why, thank you." He replied taking a mock bow. "You came to the match?"

"Yep!" Said Lily excitedly.

"I thought you hated Quidditch." Said James frowning.

"I do." She started explain.

"Then why did you come?" He questioned.

"Because you were there." She admitted shyly.

"Oh." Said James. He silently walked over to her and kissed her. She kissed him back. It was long and intense. They pulled away panting.

"But there was one thing I didn't get." Lily said frowning slightly.

"What's that?" Asked James bemused.

"Who won?" she queried timidly.

"Jeez Lily! What were you doing the whole time if you don't know who won?" James laughed.

"Well…" Lily blushed, "I wasn't really paying attention. I was just watching you the whole time."

"Lily, Lily, Lily." James sat down on the couch and pulled her in to his lap. "You have to watch yourself if you want to keep this a secret. The way you reacted at breakfast… Alex is smart, and if you keep doing thing like that she's going to find out."

"I know," sighed Lily "I jus can't help it."

They kissed again but Lily broke away early this time.

"Ewww! James! Go take a shower!" Lily shrieked giggling.

"Oh alright. But I'll be back. Don't think you can get rid of me that easily." He joked.

"And I'll be waiting right here for you. I think we should catch up on that transfiguration session we missed." She winked at him as he left the room.

* * *

**Did you like it? Next chapters the makeover scene, its going to be lots of fun and we'll try to put it up today.**


	10. What Happens in the Bathroom

**Disclaimer: We do not own the characters, but we **_**are**_** responsible for anything said characters do in this story.**

**Sorry!! We went away, but now we're back!! During the school year we'll try to write as much as possible.**

**Chapter 10**

Sunday dawned bright and early. Too early, in fact, for Lily. But then she remembered that Alex expected her to unlock the prefects' bathroom, and do the proper spells so that they wouldn't be discovered doing makeovers. She got up reluctantly and pulled on a pair of white capris, and a green tank top, put her hair in a pony tail and left. She had hoped to see James in the common room, but sadly, he wasn't there. Oh well. She hurried down the hall to the statue of Boris the Bewildered, and counted four doors down.

"Mouthwash." she said. That was Dumbledore's current favorite Muggle invention.

The door opened, and, like every time Lily saw it, she gasped. Even though she had been using it for a while, she still couldn't get used to how pretty it was. The walls were made of marble, and on three of them there were huge mirrors. The whole room was centered on the pool-sized bath with hundreds of taps. She stood there for a while, then shook her self and started doing the spells needed.

"Lets see, _Mufflaito_, ummm…" And this was what she was doing when she realized that there was someone else in the other room.

" Sorry," she said distractedly without turning to look and see who it was. "I hope I didn't bother you." She continued and then went back to thinking of spells that would keep them from getting caught.

"'Course you didn't." replied a voice that Lily knew only too well. Startled she dropped her wand. It clattered loudly on the floor and echoed around the giant bathroom. James sauntered out of the change room with only a towel around his waist. He looked so hot. Lily couldn't think straight. She closed her eyes for a moment but it was no use. Images of James with no towel at all clouded her mind. His toned chest and amazing abs. If she could just.... She shook her head and opened her eyes. James had crossed the room and was now standing beside her. He slid his arm around her waist.

"What are you doing here so early in the morning?" He asked quietly.

"Well… I… me and my friends were, er, gonna do makeovers." Lily fumbled over the words. But it was so hard to concentrate when James was standing so close to her and being so extremely hot without his shirt on. She could feel his warm body up against hers.

"Makeovers?" He laughed, "But how do you have time to fit in a makeover with all that transfiguration studying to do?"

"Well, it's not that hard…" she stopped short realizing that he was teasing her and glared playfully at him.

"Kidding!" he said lightly, " But you don't need a makeover, you're so beautiful already." He murmured in her ear.

She turned to look at him and he caught her in a kiss.

"How long till the rest of them come?" Asked James quietly.

"Long enough!" Lily whispered excitedly.

He held her tightly against his body and kissed her again. She felt his warm lips against her own, moving together. She ran her finger wildly through his hair. He held her tighter. Lily felt that nothing in the world could have separated them. She trailed her fingers along his smooth flawless chest. His hands were suddenly under her shirt, but she didn't mind. In fact she rather liked them there.

Through the haze Lily heard the door opening and abruptly pulled away.

"What…?" James asked looking confused and a little hurt. Lily jerked her head in the direction of the door. _Good thing they can't_ _see us from here. _She thought. Quickly she shoved James into the closet and locked the door.

"Sorry, James" She whispered before running to greet her friends.

"Hey guys, are you ready?" she gushed to her friends trying to sound nonchalant.

"For sure! You ok Lil, you look a little worried?" answered Alex

" O yeah, just setting up and stuff . . ."

A rumbling noise came from the closet.

"What was that?" Asked Gwen, looking slightly scared

"O, you know, er, moaning Myrtle, ghosts and stuff." replied Lily shiftily. Then pointed her wand at the closet and whispered "_muffliato" _under her breath so no one would hear James

Lily felt bad for leaving him in the closet with nothing but a wet towel on for what she knew would be hours while she and her friends did makeovers. But he would have to stay there. She just wasn't ready to admit to anyone her newfound feelings for James Potter, the boy she had spent so much time and energy hating and ignoring.

"What shall we start with, hair or make up?" she asked her friends.

"I think Alex should do your face first Lily, she's the best at makeup, and she always makes you look soooooo pretty!" gushed Shayla

"Um . . .ok." Lily murmured uneasily. She had never been one for makeup. Not that she really needed it; she was naturally gorgeous. So when Alex was finished with her, she was simply stunning.

When she looked at herself in the mirror, the first thought that came to Lily's head was: _Wait 'til James sees me now._ She was practically bouncing on the spot with anticipation.

"Wow Lily! Are you actually excited by my makeup job?" asked Alex.

"Well, yes, I suppose I am." Lily flashed a pretty smile her way.

For the next two hours, Lily tried to be excited and interested in what her friends were saying and what was going on. It took almost all her mental strength not to float into a dreamland in which there was only she and Potter and time stood still. They could snog all day long, and no one would bother them.

"Lily!" Gwen clapped in front of her face.

"What . . ." Lily answered not really paying attention.

"You have a funny look on your face, what are you thinking about?"

Damn, she'd slipped. What could she say? Anything really, if she played it right. Her friends trusted her so much. This thought just made her feel even worse than she already did for constantly lying to them. She really wasn't that king of person. But for some reason she couldn't bring herself to tell her secret quite yet. Soon, she reassured herself.

"I'm just really tired, I couldn't sleep very well last night." she replied airily.

"Thinking about James were you?" Shayla giggled

"No!" Lily said defiantly and a little meanly

" Calm down Lily, I was just teasing, I know how upset you are about having to tutor with him and all." Shalyla said looking a little hurt.

Lily instantly felt bad. Of course she was joking. How could she know, nobody knew. And Lily had practically bitten her head off.

"I'm really sorry Shayla. Like I said, I didn't get much sleep last night, guess I'm a little grumpy"

"No worries!" Shayla answered brightly.

_I really do have the best friends in the world_, thought Lily.

As the girls packed up, Lily said in a would be casual voice "I think I'll stay behind and take a shower."

"But Lil, you had one yesterday, remember?" Said Alex, slightly confused. Lily was not one to forget things like that, or anything at all really.

"Oh, erm, well I just . . . you're right. Silly me!" Lily said, and hurried everyone out of the bathroom.

She would have to sneak back later to let James out.

When they got back to the Gryffindor common room Lily announced that she couldn't stay and had to go to her own common room to study her transfiguration.

"Um . . .ok Lily." said Alex looking slightly put out and a little surprised.

"I just thought, you know, if I get better in transfiguration, then I won't need a tutor any more, and I won't have to deal with Potter." Lily said, thinking quickly.

"Makes sense." Alex replied, and they all said good-bye to Lily as she climbed out of the portrait hole.

She was getting better at making up stories. But was that necessarily a good thing? Getting better at lying to her friends. How long did she want to continue with this?

She sprinted down the hall to the prefects' bathroom. She was still running through the door as she muttered the spell to unlock the door. She yanked it open, and out tumbled James Potter.

"Jesus Lily!" he exclaimed, "My back aches like bloody hell! How long were you going to keep me cooped up in that closet?!"

"I'm sorry," squeaked Lily, and she truly was

"Come on Lily, can't we just tell them?" James said a little gentler.

"Well . . ." trailed off Lily

"Lily, I really like you, and I respect whatever reasons you have for not wanting to tell anyone. But it's killing me. For most of my Hogwarts career, I have wanted you, and I haven't exactly been very quiet about it."

"Believe me, I know." Interjected Lily

"And now that I have you, it's a big secret." James finished

"It's just that . . .James, I spent so much time making sure everyone knew how much I didn't like you . . .I'm not sure I'm ready to admit how wrong I was. You know I'm not very good at that."

"I know Lily, but it's not as big a deal as you think it is. Trust me. You can do that, can't you?"

"James, I like you a lot . . . " Lily stood in her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I'm just not ready. . ."

Lily practically sprinted out of the bathroom, leaving James standing in the middle looking hurt. Why did she do that? What was she doing? He hadn't asked for anything unreasonable. What was wrong with her? She let her feet take her where they wanted and ended up in the library.

Meanwhile James stood frozen in the bathroom. He couldn't understand Lily sometimes. What had _he_ done? Was it irrational to ask her not to keep their relationship in secret? James hated that she couldn't trust him. He liked her so much, and just when he had thought he finally had her, she had slipped through his fingers. Well, one thing he knew for sure: she wasn't getting rid of him that easily.

When Lily got back to the head common room, she locked herself in her room. She didn't care that she had tutoring with James. She ignored his calls and put her head under her pillow when he banged on her door. She couldn't face him right now, not after what she had done to him. Eventually, after three hours, he gave up. She had to hand it to that boy; he was persistent. At least he was good at showing that he cared and wasn't emotionally challenged like her.

It took Lily until four in the morning to fall asleep, and she was plagued by dreams of James Potter kissing her until her heart was content. And then leaving her standing all alone without a word of good bye, and never coming back. Lily hoped that someday things could work out between her and James.


	11. And That's When it Started Raining

Chapter Eleven

"Lily! Lily! Wait!" James called after Lily. She and her friends were making their way down the hall to their next class. Even though James knew not to try and speak to her in front of her friends, he desperately needed to talk to her. "LILY!"

Lily spun around quickly and smiled at James, but quickly replaced her expression with one of exasperation when her friends turned as well. "Yes, Jaaaa—otter?" She said. "What now? God, do you _ever_ leave me alone??"

James had to fake a smile. Even though he knew that Lily _did_ like him, he still felt odd when she dissed him in front of her friends.

"Umm...I was wondering..could I talk to you for a minute?"

"I'm right here, James. Go ahead and talk." Lily forced out. She didn't enjoy this false slamming of her boyfriend but it was necessary in order to maintain her "Potter-hating" lifestyle and image.

"Umm…can we talk in PRIVATE?" James squeaked. Lily's friends giggled.

"Fine." Lily turned to her friends. "Its okay, guys. I'll meet you in class, all right?"

Lily and James walked further down the hall towards an abandoned classroom, keeping a careful distance in between them. Once they reached the classroom, James whirled sharply so that he was facing Lily. He stepped closer to her, and was leaning in to kiss her when Lily said, "What did you need to talk to me about?" James stepped back, hurt. "Do I really need an excuse to kiss my girlfriend?"

"That's the point, James. We can't kiss here! What if someone comes in! Then our secret would be out." Lily cried.

"But I don't understand why that's so bad! What's wrong with our dating?" James asked.

"James. You know that everyone, especially my friends, think that I hate you…and even though I don't anymore, it would be weird and complicated to tell them the truth."

"You mean it would hurt your pride to admit that I won you over. That's what this is over, isn't it? Your pride. You know, Lily, you're so damn selfish, and you—"

"_I'm _selfish?! You're the one who wants to flaunt our relationship just so that everyone thinks that you're soooo great, and to prove that you're the 'best guy' at Hogwarts!" Lily yelled.

"WHAT? Just because I think it's important to—"

"No! That's not all, James! You're so…argh!!!!"

"What? What am I, Lily? Arrogant?"

"YES! That's exactly what you are, James. Arrogant."

"Well, I knew that you used to think that, but I didn't expect that you would say that after we were already in a relationship!" James screamed.

"That's too bad, James, because I DON'T CONTROL YOUR ACTIONS!"

"Thank Merlin—if you did I would probably kill myself!"

"Oh, that's a nice thing to say to your GIRLFRIEND!" Lily said.

"Well, you're not being too kind to your boyfriend…and I don't find that completely appropriate. I mean, we're not supposed to be like this when we're going out!"

"Well, then, of course YOU can dictate our relationship, but five minutes in my control and everyone's killing themselves!" Lily shrieked, tears falling from her perfect almond shaped eyes.

* * *

Down the hall, in Professor Slughorn's potion room, the students were preparing themselves for that day's lesson.

"Where's Lily?" Alex nervously asked Shayla.

"I don't know! She better get here soon though—even though Slughorn likes her it doesn't mean she won't get us all in trouble!" She responded.

"Ahh, class? May I have your attention? And where is Miss Evans?"

"Oh! Umm…she's not feeling well, so she's lying down." Alex replied shakily.

"Oh, I see…well then hopefully she'll get better soon. Now, please turn to page 192 in your Potions textbooks." Slughorn said.

"Phew! Luckily, Slughorn LOVES Lily. I don't think that would have worked well on any of the other professors." Alex whispered to the others.

"Yeah…but what's taking her so long?" Gwen asked.

"Who knows? She probably ended up killing poor James!" Shayla said. The girls giggled.

* * *

"Lily! You're freaking unbelievable! Why can't we at least tell our FRIENDS about us?" James shouted.

"Because…uh…you KNOW why, James!"

"Ah yes. Your stupid pride!"

"Well if you think it's so stupid, then—" Lily started.

"Then what? Our relationship will be over?" James said sarcastically.

Lily looked at him for a long time.

"What relationship?" She said softly.

She left the room, leaving James shocked.

* * *

James watched the love of his life walk away from him. Ahh! He just couldn't understand why she didn't want to go 'public' with their relationship!

Even though he loved her, he was frustrated. And he didn't regret telling her that.

* * *

"Now, ahh, if you put unicorn hair into your brew, what would the, uh, properties of his substance do? Oh, Miss Evans! Are you feeling better?" Professor Slughorn asked his favourite student as she walked into the classroom dejectedly.

Lily, guessing at the cover story Alex had provided, gave a small nod to the professor and tried to sit near her friends. Unfortunately, the only available seat was one near her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Halpern. She groaned. She had broken up with the blond haired boy over a year ago, and he harbored malevolent feelings towards her—Just what she DIDN'T need at the moment.

"Lily." Daniel nodded at her. "Haven't seen _you_ for awile." Even though this was seemingly normal conversation, he managed to twist it to insinuate unkindness.

"Daniel—I have no time for this. Just SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" Lily didn't realize how loudly she was speaking until she stopped. Everyone else had become very silent and had turned to stare at her. Slughorn smiled at Lily uncertainly.

"Hmmm, perhaps you should go back to your room…I'll write you a pass excusing you from all of your other classes." He said benevolently.

Lily sniffed and nodded, trying to keep her tears in. She grabbed her things and ran out of the classroom, pausing only to take the note from the Professor. She would charm it later to send to all of her other professors.

As soon as she left the classroom, however, Lily couldn't hold it in any longer. She ran quickly, the tears blurring her vision. She made it back to her room just in time to collapse on her bed.

Thunder rumbled and lightening crackled outside of her window, but they did nothing to deafen the sobs that were racking Lily's body. She crawled under her covers, and cried and cried until she couldn't cry anymore.


	12. What Can I Say? I Like Food

DISCLAIMER: TEE HEE YOU KNOW THE DRILL.

***

Lily lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. She had already cried for an hour, and there were no tears left. She and James had barely been together for a week, and they had already had a fight. Not just a small fight either, to Lily, it felt astronomical. How could she have already screwed up? It was so typical her. As soon as anything good came along, she always managed to ruin it somehow. Clearly she had a problem with emotions. But it was not entirely her fault. It was also James. Why couldn't he just understand. And he was so arrogant as soon as he didn't get his way. ARGHHHHHH! Sometimes he made her so angry! But she knew that deep down she still really liked him.

"I think we should talk to her . . ."

Lily heard shuffling and whispering outside her door.

"Why is she upset?"

"For the last time Shayla, WE DON'T KNOW!"

"OK, sorry. You don't have to blow up in my face Alex!"

"It's about the five hundredth time you've asked that!"

"Well I was just making sure."

"Oh my god! You – "

"Stop it you two! We don't want to disturb her . . ."

"Oh, right."

Alex turned to Shayla, "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"Right, 'cause I'm the loud one."

"As a matter of fact, you are."

"Oh really? Who's the one that always gets caught talking in class?"

"And you just _never_ talk in class, right?"

"Well I do, but at least I don't lose points for Gryffindor!"

"That was one time!"

"Yes, just once, plus the other fifty times."

"Honestly, guys stop it!"

"But Gwen- "

"Just shut up!"

Lily snorted into her pillow. This was her friends' idea of being sneaky. Alex and Shayla were always arguing about something. She felt a little better already.

Lily got up and opened up the door. Her three friends looked at her guiltily.

"We didn't mean to disturb you . . ." Gwen said, making squinty eyes at Alex and Shayla.

"Umm. . .that's OK." Lily answered trying not to laugh.

All four of them sat down on Lily's bed. Alex was the first to speak.

"What's wrong Lily?"

The simple question brought Lily back to reality. Of course she couldn't tell her friends. She had spent so long hating James that she could barely accept the fact that they were in a relationship. Or rather, _used_ to be in a relationship. She really wasn't sure if they still were after that fight. She would have to talk to him about it. Just not right now. She couldn't deal with it at the moment, but she knew she would have to eventually. How could she talk about it with her friends when she had trouble just thinking about it herself?

"I . . .I just . . . I am so overwhelmed," she said lamely. Lily had never been good at lying. She especially hated not telling her friends the truth. "I have so much to do, and there's just so much pressure. I have my Head Girl duties, and we have NEWTs this year, AND I have tutoring with James now."

"Oh Lily, I don't think you need to worry about NEWTs." said Shayla kindly. "You're the smartest girl in our year–you're going to do just fine."

"And you never worried about Head duties, or prefect duties for that matter, before. So why start now?" added Gwen.

"And as for the Potter issue, I don't know what to tell you," said Alex. " But I still don't see why you hate him so much."

"He's just so arrogant, he thinks he is so good at everything, and he acts like he owns the world," Lily replied, easily using one of her old refrains.

"Yes, yes, yes, we've heard it all before. But personally Lily, I think you're in denial," said Alex.

Lily knew Alex would have been right had she said that only a week ago. But Lily wasn't in denial anymore, she had fully realized her feeling for James. She was just having problems expressing them. She didn't know what to do, and now she was completely exhausted.

"Alex, you are most definitely wrong!" said Lily, trying to sound indignant. "And I am very tired, so I think I will go to bed now."

"'K, see you tomorrow Lily," said Gwen.

"'Night, Lily," called Shayla as she walked out of the room.

"One day Lily, you will realize," grinned Alex as she shut the door.

Lily sighed and flopped back onto the bed. Little did Alex know, Lily had already realized. And a lot of good that had done her. Now she was more confused than she had been before.

With one last worried sigh, Lily dropped off to sleep.

***

James walked into the common room he and Lily shared. Lily's friends were crowded at her bedroom door. Of course. He strode past them and quietly closed the door to his own bedroom. They didn't even notice him; they were too busy bickering about something or other.

James flopped onto his bed. What a waste of a day. He stared moodily at his stack of unfinished homework lying next to his bed. He would do it later, or possibly not at all. It didn't matter anyway; he and Lily had just had a fight. He couldn't believe it. Not even a week, and already she was back to hating him. Just like old times. He let out a sarcastic laugh.

James just couldn't understand why they had to keep their relationship a secret. He had finally won the girl of his dreams. It was only natural for him to want to flaunt it a little. But if that was what Lily wanted, then he should respect it. After all he was her boyfriend (at least he hoped he still was). And he cared about her more than anything; he just wanted her to be happy with him. It was practically a miracle that they had finally gotten together. After six years of trying (and failing miserably) to get Lily to like him. He would have to talk to her. But why did she have to be so cruel about it? He knew it was just the way she was–she let her temper get the better of her. But he still felt hurt by the things she had said, and he wasn't ready to forgive her yet.

***

Sirius walked into the head common room, just as Lily's friends were leaving. He had hoped he would find James here. He had been looking for him all day. He passed by the group of girls and smiled at Alex.

"Hey," he said.

Alex sighed. "Hello, Sirius."

He just didn't get it. All the girls in Hogwarts wanted him, except for this one. What was wrong with her? She never seemed interested in him.

"How are you ladies doing today?" he asked, wriggling his eyebrows at Alex.

She walked by without looking at him.

"We're fine, Sirius," she said sounding annoyed. "Bye!"

And with that they left, leaving a once again very puzzled Sirius standing all alone in the Head common room.

Frustrated, Sirius stomped up to James' room and burst through the door knocking James to the ground.

"Sirius!" James said angrily

"Sorry."

"You _could_ knock, you know."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because – never mind," James resigned. It was hopeless with Sirius.

"Where have you been all day?! I have been looking for you everywhere!" Sirius said suddenly.

"I'm sorry, mother," James answered sarcastically.

"I just wanted to practice some Quidditch."

"Okay, let's go now," James said. Quidditch did sound like fun, and a good way to take his mind off his problems.

"Meet you on the pitch in fifteen!" said Sirius already halfway out the door.

"'kay," called James, rummaging through his messy trunk for his Quidditch uniform. Thank God Sirius hadn't further pursued the subject of his whereabouts that day.

***

"Hey, James?" said Sirius as they changed out of their Quidditch.

"What, Sirius?"

"Why doesn't Alex like me?"

"I don't know. I thought she was the more…risky girl out of those four. From what I've heard she gets around. She sounds like your kind of girl."

"I know, which makes her even more appealing. I like 'em bad."

"I know Sirius. I wish you would learn to cast a better silencing charm. Especially at night," James said laughing.

Sirius didn't even appear to be embarrassed.

"How can she not like me? Every girl likes me. I'm Sirius."

"How big can your ego get?" joked James.

"Prongs my friend, right now it is very small."

"Oh God. You are too confident for your own good, Padfoot."

"You have a pretty big ego too my friend, if you don't mind me saying."

"Well, at least I don't spend an hour showering every morning."

"I have to look good. It's half of my appeal to the women in this school."

"What's the other half?"

"My wit and charm. Not to mention how good I am at –"

"You know what Sirius," James cut him off. "Save me from whatever you were going to say."

"I thought I might find you two here," said Remus, walking into the change room.

"Hey, Moony," said James.

"Hi," said Sirius.

"Sirius, you have slept with many girls from this school and can easily get any one you want. I'm still not quite sure why they find you so appealing, but I guess some girls just prefer a man whore," James said, earning a smack on the head from Sirius.

"He's right," said Remus.

"True," Sirius admitted, grinning slyly.

"I think this is probably the first time Sirius has tried to get a girl and she hasn't swooned over the sight of him," commented Remus.

"You know what Moony, I think you're right," agreed James in mock shock.

"Shut up!" scowled Sirius.

"How does it feel to be rejected for the first time in your life, Sirius?" Remus joked.

"She will be a challenge, but it will be fun," resolved Sirius.

"Okay, but be careful about what you're getting yourself into, Padfoot."

"Don't worry Prongsie, I know exactly what I'm doing. I am the master at this."

"What exactly do you mean by 'this'?" asked Remus.

"Getting in girls' pants, of course," replied Sirius.

"I should have known better than to ask," smiled Remus shaking his head. "Why am I friends with you again?"

***

Lily sat in the Great Hall with her friends the next morning. Alex and Gwen were discussing the importance of eyeliner, while Shayla agreed with everything that Gwen said. Lily just sat there and stared gloomily at her porridge.

"What do you think, Lily?" Alex asked.

"About what?" Lily said looking confused. She hadn't been listening.

"Oh, Lily," sighed Alex, slightly annoyed. Something was definitely up with Lily, and it was more than she was letting on. She would get to the bottom of it later. If anyone could worm the truth out of Lily, it was Alex.

The marauders walked into the Great Hall. James slid into the seat opposite Lily, with Remus next to him and Peter on the other side. Upon seeing James, Lily immediately looked the other way. She didn't know how to act, nor did she feel like discussing their argument at that moment. So she muttered something about homework and needing to use the library, then walked from the hall as quickly as possible. She left her untouched porridge sitting on the table and James sitting across from it with an angry resolve.

Sirius plopped himself down next to Alex.

"Hey there, pretty lady!" he said smiling.

"Uhhh, Sirius, just go away," Alex retorted looking somewhat disgusted.

"I was just wondering . . . can I borrow your virginity, 'cause I lost mine." he tried again using one of his favourite catch lines.

"Honestly Sirius! How many times do I have to tell you? GO AWAY!" Alex shouted. Then she picked up her books and left, with Gwen and Shayla following close behind.

"Congratulations!" Peter said sarcastically.

"Yes, well done!" said Remus.

"What?" barked Sirius irritably.

"Between the two you, you managed to make Lily and all her friends leave in less than 3 minutes," Peter answered.

"What did James do to Lily?" Sirius asked grumpily.

"I think it's more the fact that I exist," James said sounding depressed

"Ah, yes. Well there's always that problem," said Sirius.

"We have to get to class," Remus said, checking his watch.

***

"Wait for us!" panted Gwen as she and Shayla ran down the hall after Alex.

"Yeah, come on! At least listen to us since we ditched our breakfast so we could talk to you!" added Shayla

"ALEX!" they yelled together

Alex swivelled back on her heel to look at her friends; she looked upset. Then she dropped her bag and collapsed in the middle of the corridor. Luckily it was not a particularly busy one on that particular morning.

"Alex, I think you are overreacting," said Gwen.

"Yes," agreed Shayla. "I think it's okay, and we should go back to the Great Hall and finish our sausages."

"Shayla! Don't be so insensitive," scolded Gwen.

"Sorry, I'm just really hungry."

"Uhh, Shayla," Gwen rolled her eyes. "Alex, what do you have against Sirius?" she tried again.

"He is just so. . . " Alex looked rather flustered. "He is such a player."

"That's true, but you're not exactly the most innocent girl around this school," Gwen said carefully.

A couple second years passed by giving the group of girls sitting in the middle of the floor strange looks, which they ignored.

"It's true," Shayla commented. "There was that guy from Ravenclaw in fifth year . . . oh and Danny Renhald, from Gryffindor. And then in sixth there was that guy from Hufflepuff, what was his name again? Oh yeah, Jim something or other, and those two other guys from Gryffindor as well. Umm . . . Josh Moreau and Max Wertly. Didn't you shag them?"

Shayla finished speaking to find Gwen staring at her with her mouth hanging open and Alex next to her with her head in her hands. She immediately realized how terrible she had been to bring all that up, especially at a time like this.

"Oh, my God Alex. I'm so sorry! I'm a horrible person. I have absolutely no right to say things like that. I'm so, so sorry. Alex! Your personal life is your business, please forgive me for being such a bitch," Shayla said frantically.

"But you're right, Shayla," Alex sobbed onto Gwen's shoulder. "I'm such a slut!"

"NO! No, you are NOT, Alex!" Shayla said firmly and hugged her tightly.

"Yes I am! When have I ever had a real boyfriend? When have I ever had a healthy relationship?" Alex cried hysterically.

"Alex, don't listen to me," Shayla said desperately.

"Shayla, it's okay. I'm not mad at you. Everything you said is true."

"Thank you, Alex," said Shayla feeling relieved. "But you are NOT a slut. You are a great person, with three good friends. Although right now I would more accurately classify myself as a crappy friend, but we love you very much."

"Thanks guys," said Alex with a watery smile. "But I think what scares me most about Black, is that he is exactly like me."

"And?" prompted Shayla, not seeing why that would prove a problem.

"And normally I would just go ahead and have fun with him. But I don't want to."

"Okay . . ." said Gwen slowly. She looked down the hall and saw the famous redhead walking towards them. "Hey, Lily!" she called.

"Oh, hi guys," Lily said when she reached them. She looked distracted, sad, angry, and slightly guilty, but Gwen decided not to worry about it for the moment. They had more important matters to deal with right now.

"What's up?" Lily asked.

"Alex is upset about Sirius," answered Gwen.

"He's such a man whore," said Lily.

"Exactly," said Alex. "He is just so arrogant, and full of himself. He acts like he owns the world and all the girls at this school."

"Yes, well he _is_ Sirius," laughed Gwen. "Don't worry yourself too much about him."

"Okay," said Alex, already feeling better.

"Now let's get you cleaned up. We're going to have to redo your make up," said Shayla.

"And sneak some food from the kitchens."

"Honestly Shayla," said Lily exasperated. "I don't know how you stay so thin when you eat so much. It's all you think about."

Shayla just smiled and shrugged. "What can I say? I like food."

Hey guys! We know its been a while…but hopefully you like this long chapter we wrote just for you! Anyway, PLEASE review by pressing that pretty sparkly green button, and if you do…another chapter could be on by the end of the week! Encouragement, surprisingly, encourages us!

xoxoLulus


	13. Confusing Titles

DISCLAIMER: We do NOT own Harry Potter...as much as we would like to, we don't. Just accept it and move on. Great now we're talking to ourselves again...anyway on to the story...

***

Lily woke with a start. She had been having an awful nightmare-the same nightmare, in fact, that she had been having almost the whole week...it scared her and most nights she had woken up screaming. Running into her bathroom, she splashed her face with water and glanced into the gilded mirror that hung above the sink.

"Crap!" She thought to herself, groaning. Because of her nightmare, she hadn't been able to sleep a wink, the evidence of which was now apparent under her eyes. Even though Lily didn't usually care too much about her appearance, she recognized that right now she didn't look 100%. She quickly stepped into the shower and let the hot water seep into her, relieving some of the tension from her shoulders. After using her wand to dry herself and her hair, she quickly scoured the bathroom for some makeup left over from a sleepover with one of her friends. Luckily, she found some cover-up and lip balm for her now chapped lips. Applying both as quickly as she could, for speed was her goal this morning so as to avoid seeing James, she finished buttoning her shirt and ran out the door. She was fortunate enough to arrive prior to James, and she hurried down to breakfast, breathing a sigh of relief. Sitting down, she was pleased to see Shayla and Gwen walk over to her, accompanied by a tired looking Alex. Smiling at her friends, Lily asked,

"How are you feeling, Alex?"

"Better. Unfortunately the school doesn't think so...thanks to some of those pesky first and second years who witnessed my little 'breakdown', as you so touchingly put it, and now McGonagall is making me GO TO THERAPY for the rest of the month!!!!!" Alex concluded angrily.

Alex was the kind of person who absolutely could not stand "crazy" people like therapists, funnily enough because her Muggle mother was one.

Lily couldn't help herself-she giggled. It was such a relief to do something besides cry, fight, and sulk that she found that she couldn't stop. Soon, all three girls were in a fit of laughter, with a mystified Alex glaring at them.

"This is NOT funny. Did you not hear the words 'therapy' and 'month'??! Why are you still laughing?"

"Sorrrrry, Alex!" Lily laughed. "We're not laughing at you, really. That sucks though."

"I. KNOW." Alex hissed through her teeth.

"Hey, Lily-do you want to come with us to Saralina's birthday party tonight?" Shayla inquired.

Lily sighed. "I can't. I have to tutor with THAT BOY tonight."

"Oh...that sucks. I'm sure you're getting better though-you'll probably get to stop soon!"

"Hopefully...I have a feeling I'm NOT improving though. My last grade was terrible! It's bad enough that it's Transfiguration-but the fact that I have to do it with him-!! Well let's just say that I might be joining your therapy very soon, Alex!" Lily said, forcing a laugh.

Gwen smiled. "Don't worry about it, Lil. You'll be fine."

***

James glanced across the Great Hall. Lily and her friends were laughing loudly, with the exception of Alex, who appeared to be mad. Sighing, he turned back to the seemingly idiotic conversation his friends were having.

"No, no, no, Moony. I still think that the best pickup lines are made up on the spot. And do not include references to books. Ever." Sirius was saying.

"Okay, Padfoot. But don't blame me when Marie won't go out with you because you haven't read her favourite novels. Why do you want to go out with her anyway?"

"Because, nerdy girls are hot."

"I thought you were after Alex, Padfoot?" James interrupted.

"Get with it, Prongs. If I sleep with someone else then Alex will get jealous and want to go out with ME."

"Umm...okay, Sirius. Tell me how that works for you."

***

"Alright, class. After you've finished cleaning your stations you may go. Have a nice evening, see you at supper!" The rotund Herbology professor beamed around the room.

Lily took her time while cleaning, trying to prolong the time before she had to go to her tutoring session. She was especially dreading the awkward part of sitting near James. Sighing, she finished cleaning and left the classroom.

"I seem to be sighing a lot lately," she reflected as she walked down the corridor. After giving the password, she ran quickly up to her bathroom and looked in the mirror. Lily still wanted to look her best around James regardless of her motives. Shrugging, she put some more chap stick on; best to go au natural.

She started to clean her room-when she was done, she realized that she couldn't postpone it anymore. Grimacing, she made her way down the stairs. James was waiting for her there.

"Hello," James said. "Should we get started?"

"Fine. Let's just make this quick." Lily responded shortly.

"Okay. So do you know this property?" James asked, holding up the Transfiguration book open to a page titled 'Property of the Alteration To That Which is UnSeemingly Clear to That Person Who is Interested in the Changing of a Particular Person and Their Opinion on This Matter."

"Noooo..." Lily said. She felt dizzy just trying to understand what the title meant, let alone what the actual chapter said.

"Well we should probably start if we're ever going to teach you anything--that is, umm, I'm sure that you-you definitely know..." But it was too late - James had already done damage with Lily.

"WHAT!?!?!" Lily shrieked. "Did you just say that I knew NOTHING?!????"

"No, no! I swear! I didn't mean-" James tried.

"But you implied it. That's what you're ALWAYS doing, James!! You make presumptions, and annoying subtle implications, and...."

"Oh I am, am I? Well there's plenty you do wrong, Lily!!"

"Is there now? Why don't you enlighten me, DEAR James!?"

"You are so snobby, and pretentious, and...." James couldn't help himself; it all came out now.

"Am I? Well, that's nice! You just-no. I don't have to listen to this! I actually refuse to listen to this! Goodbye, James!!!" With that, Lily slammed the door behind her, leaving James frozen on the couch. She decided to stay the night with Alex.

***

Later that night, while James was getting ready for bed, Lily told her friends what had happened-excluding the boyfriend/girlfriend scenario, of course.

"Well...there is a silver lining, Lily- if James actually yelled back, it seems like he's finally over you! That's good news, isn't it??" Shayla tried to reassure Lily. Instead, this only made Lily cry harder, to the astonishment of her friends.

***

_Lily found herself trapped in the nightmare again. Even though she could tell it was a dream, something about it seemed frighteningly real. Part of it was that she seemed to be watching the scene from above, and that the threatened woman below appeared to be her._

_"Now, now, dear, don't be scared. All that has to happen for you to live is for you to move to the side a bit." Dream-Lily seemed to know the speaker, but real-Lily could never remember it the next day. The man spoke with a raspy voice, and he seemed to radiate evil. As for the seemingly simple request, Lily couldn't seem to move._

_"Do it NOW, Mrs. Potter." The man pressed. Still Lily kept her ground. All of a sudden, a flash of green light lit up the otherwise dark room, and adult Lily crumpled to the floor. Dream-Lily, watching from above, felt a searing pain, but also an intense desire for James Potter._

***


	14. Ms Peache AKA Perky Women Are Scary

Disclaimer: We definitely do not own these characters. Except the ones we made up. Which is not that many. But still. ANYWAY

So we had a little...technical difficulty with Chapters Twelve and Fourteen, so we took twelve off. But here is the REAL chapter fourteen!

***

"Now, class. Today's lesson will be vital in the preparation for your NE–yes, what is it?" Professor McGonagall was interrupted by the arrival of a timid first year. Her eyes were wide as she handed the parchment note to the intimidating professor.

As soon as McGonagall had read the note's contents, she dismissed the trembling girl and turned back to her now unfocused class.

"Miss Morgan?" McGonagall called. Alex's head snapped up. "You're wanted in the Headmaster's office."

Puzzled, Alex started to gather her books and hurried out of the room. On her way, she passed by a group of boys from her year. To her horror, Sirius was among them. Hoping he wouldn't notice her, she turned her head, but it was too late.

"Alex!" Sirius called. "Just the gorgeous girl I wanted to see!"

Alex groaned and turned. "Sirius…this is really not the time." The venom in her voice appeared to get through to him, if his startled appearance was anything to go by.

"Come on, Al!" Sirius pleaded.

"'Al'? Uh, that is NOT my name, Black, and you would be wise to remember it!"

"Ooh, you're so sexy when you're mad," Sirius said with a wink.

"UGH!!! GO AWAY!" Alex screamed at the top of her lungs, attracting a lot of attention.

"Uh…okay," Sirius said dejectedly. Why wouldn't this girl go out with him? He was SIRIUS BLACK. It didn't make sense.

***

Lily hurried out of her Charms class, many books in hand. It seemed as though no matter how many times she stuffed all of her notes into a folder, they always managed to escape and hit the ground! Sighing, she continued walking. She had just turned a corner when–BAM! Lily tumbled down, accidentally falling on top of William Wood, the boy she had run into.

"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry!" they both said at the same time. Laughing, Lily stood up. She began to gather up her papers.

"Here, let me help you," William offered. Smiling her thanks, Lily bent down and tried to put some order to her mess of parchments.

"So…Lily. I was wondering if you might help me with my Potions homework. Potions isn't exactly my _best_ subject…" William trailed off, blushing.

"Oh, of course!" Lily smiled.

"So can we meet up tonight?" William asked hopefully.

"Sur–oh, wait! I actually have plans for tonight, I'm sorry!" Lily realized she had tutoring that night with James.

"Oh. That's too bad. I was hoping we could…" Lily was shocked to see William leaning towards her at an alarming rate.

***

As Alex entered Dumbledore's chambers, she noticed that he wasn't there. Feeling awkward, she hovered around the doorway, twiddling her thumbs. After almost twenty minutes alone, she decided to leave. Alex turned around and screamed!

An extremely perky woman wearing candy pink lipstick had just appeared behind her.

"HELLO! I'm Ms. Peache! I'm going to be your new THERA–" Ms. Peache was cut off by the entrance of Professor Dumbledore, much to Alex's relief.

"Hello, Alex. Why don't you come sit down and we can talk," Dumbledore said.

"Uh…okay," Alex said uncertainly. They sat down, Alex noticing that Ms. Peache was bouncing up and down in her seat.

"A couple of students mentioned that yesterday after breakfast…you, well, got very upset and–"

"I'm fine! Really. I was just tired."

"I'm sure. But regardless, we have decided that it would be beneficial if you spoke to an…analyst for a while. Ms. Peache has agreed to meet with you every day after supper. Starting today."

Alex's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious!" This was _so_ going to ruin her life.

"I assure you, I am," Dumbledore said. "Now, help yourself to a lemon drop on your way out!"

"That's okay," Alex got off the couch and started walking away.

"Oh, and Alex, dear? This starts tonight."

The last thing Alex heard before the door closed was:

"ALBUS, SHE SEEMS LOVELY!!!!"

***

James came into the hallway after his Charms class, listening to Sirius explain his latest scheme to get Lily's friend Alex. Well, really he was only pretending to listen; his mind was elsewhere. He had tutoring with Lily that night, but judging by what had happened last time, he was slightly scared.

All of a sudden, he stopped. James blinked his eyes a couple of times to make sure what he was seeing was real.

"Hey–James, isn't that Lily and William?" Sirius stopped his plotting for a minute to point out what James had already seen–Lily kissing William Wood.

James heard the bell ring, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. Sirius tugged on James' arms, and finally managed to drag James to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

***

"What are you doing?" Lily pulled away from William sharply.

"Uh, obviously I was kissing you…" He retorted.

"I'm sorry, Will. I don't like you like that," Lily said dazedly. She was still in shock. Much to her annoyance, a tiny (irritating) voice in the back of her head registered that James was a better kisser.

Lily hurried away from the corridor, hoping that no one had seen the impromptu kiss, but knowing that everyone would be talking about it by lunchtime. Oh, God! She hoped James didn't hear about it–as if their situation wasn't complicated enough.

"Hey, Lil!" Alex startled Lily out of her musing. "Guess what? You're not the only one who's going to be tortured tonight."

Although Alex's voice seemed normal on the surface, Lily could tell that something was brewing beneath Alex's calm exterior.

"What do you mean?" Lily queried.

"Because of my little 'freak out' yesterday, Dumbledore is making me go and talk to some weird, extremely happy lady after classes!"

"Happy? What exactly do you mean?"

"HER NAME IS MS. PEACHE! And she wears pink lipstick and she's…just HAPPY. All the time!" Alex ranted.

"Well, at least she's not James Potter," said Shayla walking into the room. "Right, Lil?"

"Umm…yeah," Lily said. She _really_ wasn't looking forward to the strains their relationship had been going through, in particular, a certain _incident_ that had happened earlier. If they even had a relationship, that is.

***

Alex lifted the last bite of her Mac&Cheese to her mouth and slowly chewed it.

"C'mon, Alex," Lily tried to comfort her. "It can't be THAT bad. I'm sure she's nice."

"Yeah, if you're one of those Muggle cheerleaders," Alex muttered darkly.

Gwen snorted, despite herself, earning a couple of desperate looks from her friends.

"It will be fine!" Shayla said.

"We promise," Lily pleaded.

"Fine. Whatever, all I'm saying is…if you don't pick good flowers for my funeral I will come back and haunt you," with that, Alex scampered out of the Great Hall.

She glanced at the piece of parchment Dumbledore had given her. He had said that in order to provide complete privacy, he was using a special charm on the paper, and that when she was ready to go, all she had to do was say the word "_agito."_

Shrugging, Alex put her hand to the paper and whispered, "_Agito!"_

Alex felt pressure on her skull, immense pressure, but just when she was going to scream, she felt her feet hit the ground.

"Ow!" she yelled.

"WHY, HELLOOOOOO!" Ms. Peache trilled. "How are YOU DOING??!"

"Uh, I'm fine," Alex said shakily. "I'd be better if I wasn't here…"

"Hmmmmmmmmm. I think that means that you SHOULD be here. I'm sensing a little bit of ANGER here. Do you have any ANGER, Alex?"

"NO! I have no bloody anger!"

"Oh dear. Maybe we shou–"

"NO! We shouldn't do anything! I just want to go!" Alex screamed.

"Nowww just sit down and we can discuss this CALMLY," Ms. Peache tried.

"Fine. Whatever."

"DUMBLEDORE, that dear fellow, said that you had a little TANTRUM yesterday. Is this trueeee?"

"Umm, I guess. It wasn't really a _tant–_"

"Yes it was. IT'S OKAY, just BREATHE through this. Now, tell me–what would you like to do right now to relieve your anxiety?"

"Shoot myself."

"Now THAT is a positive id–WAIT WHAT?"

***

Hey guys! Hope you like the chapter. In the next one there will be lots more James and Lily '_events_,'but that chapter will come more quickly if you press that pretty green button and REVIEW!


	15. The Many Uses of Fire Whiskey and Shoes

Disclaimer: Yes, yes, yes. The voices in my head aren't real. Which means the little voice saying we own these characters is also false. Meaning we _don't_ own them, 'kay?

***

In potions Lily sat as far away from James as she could. But Alex, who was late, was forced (to her horror) to be partners with Sirius (much to his delight). She reluctantly sat down next to him.

"Hi Alex, I – "

"No, Sirius." Alex cut him off.

"But– "

"No."

"Students, please open your books to page 45, and commence the draught of the Living Dead," Professor Slughorn instructed. "This potion when brewed properly should kill the drinker instantly."

"Go get the rabbit's tongue from the storage cupboard, Black," Alex ordered. "Do something helpful for once."

"Okay, okay. Don't get your knickers in a twist."

"Wouldn't you like to know about my knickers? And don't forget the other ingredients," she called after him

Sirius walked over to get the ingredients for their potion. James was getting the items for his potion with Remus.

"James, cheer up, mate. I know that you are madly in love with Evans or whatever but she rejects you every day. Why are you letting it get to you so much this time?" Sirius asked.

"I know, I just..."

"Did you get everything?" Alex interrupted.

"Yep," Sirius said brightly.

"Let's see...where's the wolf's bane?" demanded Alex.

"I forgot it. Wanna go to Hogsmead with me?" he said.

"Oh, my God, Black! Honestly it's not that hard. All I asked you to do was get the ingredients for the potion on which I was forced to work with you! Can't you do anything right?" Alex practically shouted, completely ignoring Sirius' invitation.

"This is going to be long day," Sirius muttered to himself.

"I heard that, Black! Now start cutting the mint leaves," Alex said irritably.

"Do you want to go with me to Hogsmead with me?"

"NO!"

"Wanna go to Hogsmead with me?"

The rest of the period continued like this. Sirius constantly asking Alex out, and Alex becoming more and more flustered but repeatedly pretending she hadn't heard. In the end their potion was a disaster as neither of them had really been paying attention.

"Black! The potion is supposed to be blue gray, not lime green. And it's like sludge, that's not right either," Alex had started out these comments in an exasperated manor, but by the end she was giggling in spite of herself.

"Well, I guess that proves we're both rotten at potions," Sirius smiled, happy that she wasn't insulting him.

Alex clamped her hand over her mouth and immediately stopped laughing. Had she just been sharing a short, but never the less funny joke with Black? Oh, no. The expression she then wore on her face was like that of a little kid caught sneaking candy when he thought his parents weren't looking.

Sirius grinned. So she _did_ like him to some extent. He was making progress.

"I'll meet you to go to Hogsmead later, then," he said before handing in their failure potion and slipping out the door.

He left Alex standing in the middle of the potions room alone, wondering if maybe Sirius Black wasn't so bad after all. It couldn't hurt for her to fool around with him anyways. It didn't have to mean anything. It certainly wouldn't mean anything to him. He had a reputation for being a man whore. Just as Lily had said. Then again Alex herself had a reputation as well. But it was definitely not as bad as Sirius'. It could even be fun.

***

"Okay, Sirius, what is the emergency Marauders meeting about?" asked Remus as he sat down in a big comfy arm chair in front of the fire.

"Yeah, what's this about?" Peter wanted to know.

"Can we do this quickly, I have a transfiguration essay to finish," Remus said.

"Don't worry so much about homework, Moony," Sirius chided.

"Hey, where is James?" Peter asked.

"Well...he is the subject of our meeting this afternoon," said Sirius.

"So he's not coming?" confirmed Remus.

"No!" said Sirius.

"Well I just assumed, since we're in the Head common room, that he was coming."

"Why would you assume that?" asked Sirius.

"Because this is his common room!" volunteered Peter.

"So?" said Sirius not seeing the problem.

"Nevermind," Remus resigned. "What's going on?"

"I'm worried about James," said Sirius.

"Why?" asked Peter.

"Well he seems a little depressed lately," answered Sirius.

"I reckon it's Lily," said Peter.

"Of course it's Lily you dolt!" shouted Sirius. "But the question is why?"

"What do you mean?" asked Peter looking confused. "We know why. She doesn't want him and he's pretty much in love with her."

"Yes, yes, yes, Peter. We _know_ that. But why is it putting him down so much more these days? I mean there was this weird little patch of days where he was extremely happy all the time. And now he's more depressed than he's ever been," explained Sirius.

"I agree, it's doesn't make sense," said Remus. "But if James wants to tell us, then he will. I know him."

"I guess you're right, Moony," said Sirius a little reluctantly.

"He usually is," remarked Peter.

"But we can't just do nothing!" said Sirius. "He's our best friend! This is a matter of life and death!"

"Sirius, you don't have to be so melodramatic," said Remus tiredly.

"And what do you suggest?" asked Peter.

"I suggest we go to Hogsmead!" Sirius said excitedly.

"But the trip isn't until next week," said Peter looking confused again.

"Um, Wormtail, if you recall, you are talking to Sirius right now. And that means virtually anything is possible."

"Exactly!" cried Sirius. "I'm glad we're finally seeing eye-to-eye, Moony."

"What are you planning to do in Hogsmead?" asked Remus a little cautiously.

"Well, we persuade the bar tender, hopefully Madame Helena, to slip us some fire whiskey. And then we'll see where it goes from there," said Sirius grinning evilly.

"Tonight?" asked Peter.

"But of course!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Why do I always go along with these completely idiotic plans? I'm supposed to be preventing things like this. I'm a prefect!" said Remus, feeling exasperated.

"Moony my dear, is there really any point in trying to stop me?" asked Sirius sweetly.

"I suppose not," sighed Remus. "But going to class tomorrow is going to be hell."

***

James sat by the fire writing his charms essay. Or at least he had been until he fell asleep. A huge shaggy black jumped onto his lap.

"ARGGGHHHH!" James yelled. "Sirius! What is your problem?"

The giant dog morphed into Sirius and jumped off James' lap.

"Come on, were going out!" Sirius said grinning madly.

"Er, it's Wednesday night," said James.

"Oh come on Prongsie, where's your sense of fun gone?"

"It took a vacation," said James bitterly.

"Guess we'll have to go join it," said Sirius brightly. "Get your invisibility cloak, and meet us outside the Great Hall."

***

Sirius ran to the Gryffindor common room and plopped himself in a chair next to Alex.

"Hey gorgeous, what's up?" he said.

"I'm trying to do my Potions homework, but it's not really working out."

Yes! He really was making progress. She was being civil.

"Yeah, well we established that earlier today, didn't we?" he joked.

Alex giggled.

"Wanna do something fun?" asked Sirius.

Alex raised her eye brows.

"I only wanted to know if you wanted to come to Hogsmead," he laughed.

"Haven't you already asked me that about five hundred times today, Black?" she smiled.

"Well I'm asking you again, since I never really got an answer," he said.

"I thought we were going to 'meet later,'" she quoted him.

"Well we're meeting right now aren't we?" he asked.

"Yes, but the trip isn't until next week," she said.

"Merlin! Why does everyone always state the obvious?! I know that," he said slightly annoyed. "But I want to go now."

"So?" she asked.

"So are you coming or not?" he wanted to know.

"Um, I guess so. Hell, anything is better than a Potions essay!"

"Alright! That's my girl! Come on," he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the portrait hole.

"Slow down, Black. I'm not your girl," Alex said.

"Ouch!"

"Yet…"she said smiling seductively.

"Guess we'll have to change that then, won't we?" said Sirius grinning. Now this is what he was looking for!

They walked down to the Great Hall together and met up with Remus, Peter, and James.

"So how are we getting there?" asked Alex feeling very exhilarated by breaking so many rules, just like she always felt when she did things like this.

"We have our ways," said Sirius secretively. "Why don't you lead the way, Prongs."

They followed James to the one eyed witch statue, joking and talking the whole way. Alex was not in the least bit intimidated by being the only girl. And James was looking a little bit more lively already. Sirius was very proud of himself, his plan was working as intended.

James tapped on the statue's hump and muttered the spell. Alex gasped in amazement as it opened to reveal the passageway.

"Where does it lead to?" asked Alex.

"The cellar under Honeydukes," Sirius answered.

"Wow!"said Alex, clearly impressed.

Peter and Remus slipped down the slide. James was next and Sirius helped Alex down before going himself.

"How long have you guys know about this?" Alex asked as they began to walk.

"I think since about second year," James answered. "Right, Padfoot?"

"That sounds right," agreed Sirius.

The rest of the walk didn't seem as long as it usually did as the five of them wandered down the winding passage. At one point Sirius slipped his arm around Alex's waist. She turned to look at his face, poorly lit by their wands. She smiled at him, and he grinned back. Then she slipped out of his grasp and flounced up to talk with Remus, swinging her hips.

Sirius sighed. This girl was something else.

Finally they arrived in the basement of Honeyduke's.

"Do you have your invisibility cloak, James?" asked Remus.

"Yep," said James as he pulled it out of his pocket. "I'm not sure if we'll all fit though," he added uncertainly.

"It's okay," said Sirius. "We'll squish."

They all moved together into a tight group and James threw the cloak over them. Sirius and Alex ended up pressed up against each other. Sirius grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes. They shuffled through Honeydukes and into The Three Broomsticks, but not without difficulty. Once inside, they shrugged off the cloak and grabbed a table.

Madame Helena came over to their table.

"Is Hogwarts visiting right now?" she asked.

"Nope," grinned James, sounding like his old self again.

"Ah, I see. Why is it always you four causing trouble?" she asked.

"It's our specialty," James told her.

"Oh, I know," Madame Helena laughed. "And hello Alex, I don't usually see you hanging around with this lot. You better watch yourself!"

"Don't worry Helena, I'll take care of her," said Sirius.

"That's why I worry," she answered. "So, what'll it be?"

"A bottle of fire whiskey," said Sirius confidently.

"And what makes you think I'm going to give you that?" asked Madame Helena laughing again.

"Because we always weasel it out of you one way or another," James smiled sweetly.

"Well, that's not true! I-" she stopped short at the expressions on the Marauders' faces.

"So why don't we just skip the part where we try and convince you, and you just hand it over now?" said Sirius.

"Well I…" she stuttered.

"Come on, Helena!" begged James.

"Oh, all right!" exclaimed Helena. "But you know the deal. You didn't get it from me!"

"Thank you!" they chorused together.

Madame Helena walked away to get their Fire Whiskey.

"Exactly how often do you guys do this?" Alex asked looking impressed.

"Way too often," said Remus. They all laughed.

Madame Helena returned with their First Whiskey and some shot glasses. Sirius poured five. He picked on up and raised it.

"To Hogwarts!" he said and they all drank.

Alex smiled. This was fun. Sirius caught her eye and smiled too.

"Another round!" shouted James, and he began pouring.

"To Madame Helena for giving us the Fire Whisky!" And they all downed their glasses again.

As the night went on, the toasts became more and more ridiculous.

"To makeup remover!" Alex cried.

"YEAH! Wait– noooo," the boys stopped.

The bottle was three quarters emptied, and their glasses were full once again.

"To Alex!" said Sirius, his words slightly slurred. "For being so hot!"

And they drank. Alex frowned a little, then looked over at Sirius and grinned as she tipped her glass back.

James refilled their glasses again. "To Lily!" he said solemnly. "I hope one day she will forgive me."

The rest of them giggled, although they were slightly confused.

"I lost my shoes!" Sirius announced very loudly. "Will you come help me find them Alex?!"

Alex smiled stupidly and looked down at Sirius' feet.

"But you're wearing them!" she giggled.

"Please help me find them!" said Sirius.

"Okay, let's go look for your shoes Sirius. Where do you think they are?"

"Outside," he grinned for the umpteenth time that evening.

"Oh," said Alex realization dawning on her. "Guess we better go find them."

"Come on," said Sirius giddily.

Sirius grabbed her hand and dragged her through the crowd towards the door.

"Three guesses what they're gonna do out there!" laughed Peter.

***

Almost before the door to The Three Broomsticks had swung shut Sirius' lips were on Alex's. They were warm and soft, and he was such a good kisser. It wasn't rough, but it was sweet. Their mouths moved together harmoniously and their kissing grew more passionate and urgent.

Alex had no idea how long they stayed there but she knew how sorry she was to have to go. When Sirius and her broke apart though, she realized the reality of what she was doing. Sirius was no the girlfriend type, and he would probably not want their relationship to go any longer than tonight.

"We should get back," he said, ever smiling.

"Yeah…" agreed Alex. "You know, Sirius…it's okay, we don't have to talk about this again." she told him.

"Oh, right," said Sirius. "Wait, why?"

"We're drunk…and it doesn't mean anything. Don't pretend like you care, I know your little game."

With that, Alex headed back to Hogwarts, leaving a very crushed Sirius all alone.

***

See how quickly we posted a new chapter? That could happen again if you REVIEW!!

Haha, please review guys. It's really…motivating to read your comments, and it motivates us to write more!!!!!!

Thanks for reading!!


End file.
